How it works: AMD’s new Accelerated Processing Unit

Here’s one for the silicon geeks. At a conference in Bellevue this morning, AMD introduced its new Fusion A-Series Accelerated Processing Units — new types of processors, known as APUs, that combine a CPU and graphics processor on a single silicon die.

Speaking to the crowd, AMD corporate fellow Phil Rogers compared current models of computer processing to an airport security screening, with long lines and items separated into bins as they move in fits and starts through a scanner.

The streamlined approach of the APU promises to make notebook and desktop machines perform like supercomputers, with battery life as long as 10.5 hours, according to the company. See the video above for Rogers’ explanation of the approach.

AMD’s new chips will be available in computers starting this week. The company hopes to use them to compete more effectively against its larger rival Intel. Whether or not this turns out to be justified, AMD is promoting the launch as an historic occassion, with a splashy event scheduled for tonight at the Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum in Seattle.